Shine
by La.Tomarias
Summary: He was always supposed to be there,they needed him. He had known him his whole life, but he couldnt do anything when it happen.


A/N I bet everyone here has forgotten me, I don't blame you, you probably didn't know me at all, probably haven't even read my stories (.actually, it's just one story, but with these it will be more than one! eh...well, just two.). Maybe you just happen to come across my name and are about to click on the Back button because you considered this too boring and unintelligent. Ah well, it's my own faulty here, I should have thought of a smarter thing to say. Howdy anyways booboo, bye to the old stuff on with the new! Um, well I just wanted to say that.So. yeah. Ok, here's the story if you want to read it, if not press the Back button and read "A Poem.", if not, well, just press the Back button twice and be done already! *glares* Oww.oh right, my Muse doesn't like me getting angry with you ppl, bad for propaganda.Wait a minute, do I have any propaganda? Nobody told me I had propaganda! No, wait, ever since when do I have a Muse? Oh, yeah right, I discovered I had a Muse, after reading Absolutely Normal Chaos ^_^. Man, doesn't Sharon Creech rock? She's one of the best authors on the whole damn world. And the Odyssey (what about it?). Um lets, just say that it's just most of the gory details that gives me the willies.Yeah, so man, like, dude, like here's the story!  
  
------------ Disclaimer: Harry Potter, names, characters, places, situations and related issues belong to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Inc, and Raincoast Books. ----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Where is it?"  
  
"Where is what?"  
  
"You know what I mean."  
  
"No I don't"  
  
"Yes you do."  
  
"Maybe, I think I remember, um.yeah...er.Nope?  
  
He grinned as he leaned against the staircase railing, the classically, perfectly angelic face he used to make whenever he got in trouble at school lighting up his features. Though of course, it never fooled anybody. By logic, it wasn't going to fool him now of all people. He knew him to well to believe it.  
  
"Fred Weasly, tell me where on all Holy's sake did you put it"  
  
His face cracked into an evil grin that seemed to fit him better than the innocent one.  
  
He rubbed his nails against his shirt, adopting a nonchalant air and tossed his hair slightly to the side. "Uh, you know, here or there. You might have just put it in your desk and wrongly accused me of a very, very serious crime. Of course, stealing and hiding a perfectly invaluable Supreme Cauldron Bottom Report is such a tragedy, especially since the Junior Minister of Magic was supposed to have it finished by Thursday and instead lost it right after just finishing it on Tuesday", he cocked his head to one side and raised his hands, counting the days with his fingers as if teaching a seven year old, "Now that must have left a whole day to spend with your brothers but instead you decided to lock yourself up and disappear for the rest of the evening."  
  
He dropped his arms to his sides, his expression turning into a grim one. "Right after losing one of them, brothers, Perce. You might as well have done us all a favor and stay with the family."  
  
He flared his nostrils and turned particularly stiff.  
  
"The Ministry is having difficulties with this new Death Eater raids, it's my job to prevent the death of more people"  
  
"But still cutting off a day from work for your family could have been a human thing to do. You know, having feelings is part of being human. Are you afraid to feel, Percy? Are you afraid that someone will notice that you're not as hard, cold, and inhuman as you appear to be?"  
  
Fred looked at his brother, trying to see something, any sign that the words had actually settled in his head. Nothing. It was just the same proper, dignified look Percy always had. He was probably born with it.  
  
He hung his head and closed his eyes; he didn't even need to open them to know that Percy had left the room. What had he thought? That talking will erase all of those years of coldness between him and the family? Maybe he had been expecting to see something, just to make sure that Percy still had a place for them in his heart. It would have been much better if George had come to help him reason with their brother. But once again, maybe he wouldn't have found that need to come and put things in order with Percy if George had been here.  
  
"This can only happen to us, right?", he thought, "To the Weasleys"  
  
All of his life he had never thought about the family's economic problems, he never had to. Life was open to him in full glory and he was just a kid back then, he had to brace every opportunity he got. At least, that's what Charlie told him. Them. He had told that to him and George, just after the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named. They had to live life, it was all there was. And they did.  
  
Everyday, him and George, George and him, The Twins, The Terrible Two. They had each other for setting up pranks, telling jokes; just being what they were. They never had to worry about death and evil. That had passed a long time ago.  
  
But then it happened. All went down like a card castle that was swept away by a gust of wind.  
  
"It wouldn't have happened that way, it wasn't his fault."  
  
Angry tears wound down his cheeks; it was a feeling he wasn't quite used to. He never had to cry. Sadness welled up inside him everyday as news of more people dying arrived; Muggles and wizards alike. At first it didn't matter, it seemed so distant from them, as though that couldn't happen to anyone they knew. 'Course, it was sad and all, but everyone was ok, weren't they? No need to worry at all. But then there was the raid. George had been one of those who had been on the forest. It was a game, for Christ's sake, it had been just a gathering of old friends. Everyone had been there, it was a picnic. A reunion of members and allies of the Order. A celebration that they were still alive and well, of course, that Harry was feeling better everyday after that illness. He could still remember everything that had happened that day, by God, it had been so near here. Just a look out the window would have been more than enough to bring the horrors of the past few weeks. It had been an idea, someone's proposal to play hide and seek. It seemed perfect, there was plenty of room for everyone to hide in the forest. So they played, the first batch was good, in fact it had been fun. Even Percy himself had smiled.  
  
His lip quivered, it was something between a smile and a sob.  
  
"Why did it have to happen? Nobody deserved it"  
  
It was so sudden, laughter and noise a moment, and the there was the flash of blinding green light and then the screams begun. He had seen it, he had been talking to Bill near the snack table when the screaming began. It wasn't so much for the noise, but for the fact that no one did anything. It was coming from the forest, there had been people still playing. But that wasn't the first thing that came to his mind. It was the fact that George was still there, he had continue with the game even though he, Fred, had retired for the while. They had never done anything without each other, but then again, it was the summer that George had discovered something without his brother. Charlotte Kohrs. George's head had been filled with love. He had followed her everywhere, with Fred trailing behind, sometimes he couldn't help being jealous that his brother had found someone and he had none.  
  
"Was that why? Was that why I didn't play the last round with them?"  
  
Had it been that he couldn't stand it no more seeing the two of them together he had stayed behind? He highly suspected it, but maybe he'd never know.  
  
But whatever it was, it was gone when it all started. Masked strangers shouting spells at them, burning chairs and tables, grabbing people and dragging them off. But the main thing was happening in the there. In there where his brother had been.  
  
Fred was never characterized for running, but his feet just flew across the lawn as he sprinted towards the forest. He had made it there, but where were they? He could see bodies strung across the ground, people trying to get away; but there was no George. He continued running, he wouldn't have stopped unless he hadn't heard her voice. Any other time he could have been praying that he didn't have to hear her, but right now it sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world. They were there, a Death Eater pointing his wand at her, George staggering a few feet behind. It was then when he saw the silvery flash, the glint of a blade covered with blood. It wasn't a wand, it was a dagger.  
  
The Death Eater had advanced towards Charlotte, slowly, as if taunting her. Like a cat playing with a mouse before he gives a swipe and ends its life.  
  
He could have done something, but he didn't move. Maybe it was the fact that that monster had been killing in cold blood, but still he could have done something. Anything. Something to prevent what was about to happen. George sure as Hell did. He threw himself against the Death Eater, knocking him down but not fast enough for him to stab the dagger into his chest.  
  
It was only after the Death Eater ran away that he came to his senses. He practically fled to where his brother was lying in a pool of blood. His own blood. The contrast of the red against his own coppery hair was somewhat shocking. Charlotte was already leaning over him, her hand clasped into his, rubbing it to her face.  
  
Fred had tried every healing spell he knew, every charm that came to his head. The blood kept flowing, slowly draining his brother of his life.  
  
"You can't die", he said "not now. She needs you, you can't die."  
  
George looked up to his face- that look, the way his eyes seemed to go in and out of focus and his face seemed to strain just as it relaxed slightly- he could never forget it. A smile, the same smile that had accompanied him since he was a kid, spread itself along his brother's features. It was the last time he ever saw that smile.  
  
He grasped his hand tighter, as though not to let him go. He could feel how it slowly flowed out, the pulse got fainter, his grip slipped. Then his eyes, the same eyes that had held life a few hours before, grew out of focus.  
  
All noise, the noise that couldn't let him concentrate while trying to do his spells, disappeared. It was only them now, they were alone. He was gone, but he couldn't quite grasp it.  
  
He's gone.  
  
The words ran around his mind, but he couldn't understand them.  
  
"Fred?"  
  
He looked up, slightly startled by the voice. She approached him slowly, eyeing his face cautiously. She put her hand gently on his arm, a comprehensive smile on her face.  
  
"You were thinking about it again, weren't you?"  
  
He looked at the floor, managing just a small nod. She stood beside him for several silent seconds. Finally, he looked up.  
  
"It did happen, you know. Just right here, I mean, just outside." He trailed off.  
  
She took his hand and nodded. He stared a picture at the far end of the corridor. He knew it too well, it was one of the few that could actually showed how it had been back then, before the raid. It was the two of them, him and George, George and him. The Terrible Two. He smiled sadly as they started to walk down the stairs. It was a fact, a sentence, but whatever it was it meant just one thing: He was gone. There was no more shinning, the darkness Charlie had talked of had come back. 


End file.
